Found my exhaust leak

[Spooled]

I pulled my turbo manifold heat shield off for the first time yesterday because I was looking for an exhaust leak. I thought that it might have a crack in it because I couldn't find anything on the exhaust that looked bad. Well, it wasn't cracked, but there was a backed bolt 3/4 of the way out! The only people that have touched that are all at my dealership. I know exactly what happened: the jackholes forgot to tighten the bolts after replacing the turbo for the faulty wastegate.

I'm usually a very patient person when it comes to people making mistakes, but EVERY time that I have taken my car into the dealership for something, it comes back with something else wrong that wasn't there before. I'm surprised my brake lines were attached the last time I got it back. It's too bad that they are the only place around here that's certified to fix the car under warranty.

IF YOU CAN, AVOID BILL COOK MAZDA IN FARMINGTON HILLS!​

Sorry to get off track. I made this thread to tell people that the leak is gone now. If you ever have that problem, make sure that you have access to a 1/4" swivel with an extension. My lose bolt was in-between the left 2 runners and at the bottom. There's no room for an open end, box end or standard socket.

Side note: I put my heatshield back on, and now my car sounds like it's going to fall apart at 3-4k rpm! The stock resonator is in the worst possible spot for people with TWM shifters.​

 

[Spooled]

Just realized that I put this in Forced Induction. If a mod reads this, can you move it to MSP Engine & Performance?

 

[wickedjra]

Side note: I put my heatshield back on, and now my car sounds like it's going to fall apart at 3-4k rpm! The stock resonator is in the worst possible spot for people with TWM shifters.
​

by "stock resonator" are you talking about the heat shield? that was the only thing that got in the way after i installed my twm last week. all i did was just pull it down slightly and no more contact at all. the shorty has been perfect since. if there is some other "resonator", then i apologize for the jack. that was the only issue i had though.

 

[Spooled]

The resonator is the part of the exhaust that bulges out after the cats. It's right under where the shifter comes through the floor and the heat shield is sandwiched in-between the two. The TWM came with spacers to drop the heat shield down about an inch in the front, but there is only about 1/8-1/4" in-between the bottom of the shifter and the top of the resonator. I need to bend my exhaust hanger rods to drop the exhaust down a little. If I can ever get around to getting my exhaust made, I'm going to either forget about a resonator, or at least have it moved about 5" back in the exhaust.

 

[orlandomsp]

Ha ha whoops...

*edited for my stupidity

 

[apocman]

The resonator is the part of the exhaust that bulges out after the cats. It's right under where the shifter comes through the floor and the heat shield is sandwiched in-between the two. The TWM came with spacers to drop the heat shield down about an inch in the front, but there is only about 1/8-1/4" in-between the bottom of the shifter and the top of the resonator. I need to bend my exhaust hanger rods to drop the exhaust down a little. If I can ever get around to getting my exhaust made, I'm going to either forget about a resonator, or at least have it moved about 5" back in the exhaust.

i just recently removed both of my cats and the resenator. I love the sound and the improvement it made performance wise...

 

[Spooled]

I originally thought that I might forget about the resonator when I get new exhaust, but after hearing some clips of Daedalus' car, I changed my mind.

 

[apocman]

I originally thought that I might forget about the resonator when I get new exhaust, but after hearing some clips of Daedalus' car, I changed my mind.

mines not much louder that stock, but i noticed others used 3" piping and were pretty loud. My size is the stock size of piping just straight pipe to remove the cats and resonator...

 

[spike blue]

i just recently removed both of my cats and the resenator. I love the sound and the improvement it made performance wise...

you have any sound clips?? it is loud or not??